Mayor Tau moves to resolve high water bills in Ebony Park
08 June 2016
Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau on Tuesday June 7 said the City would consult residents of Ebony Park near Midrand, in Region A, on the feasibility of switching to prepaid water meters to resolve their high water bills.
Mayor Tau, who was accompanied by a high-level City delegation, was speaking during a Bua Le Sechaba (Talk to the Nation) report back meeting.
The high-level team included Chair of Chairs Councillor Solly Mogase; Members of the Mayoral Committee including Councillors Matshidiso Mfikoe (Environment and Infrastructure Services), Nonceba Molwele (Health and Social Development) and Chris Vondo (Community Development); Region A Director Abigail Ndlovu and other top officials.
Mayor Tau told more than 350 residents at the Ebony Park Pay Point Centre that City officials would also refer all their electricity queries to national power utility Eskom. The residents had gathered at the centre for feedback on the water, electricity, refuse collection and other service delivery issues they raised during the Bua Le Sechaba campaign last year.
Lungelwa Sonqishe, Head of the City’s Revenue Department, and her team of 20 officials were on hand to attend to the residents’ queries. Sonqishe and her team will remain in the area until Friday June 10. Special attention would be paid to pensioners who wanted to be registered for the City’s Expanded Social Programme (ESP), Mayor Tau said.
“This is about bringing the government to the people. The Finance Department will be here until Friday to deal with revenue issues, especially water billing. They are also registering community members for the ESP, which will help pensioners access the rebates they are entitled to,” the Mayor said.
“Today is about dealing with individual issues. That’s why the Executive Director of Revenue (Sonqishe) is here to make direct decisions on people’s queries.”
Regional Director Ndlovu said the operation was also partly a response to the Auditor-General’s advice that the City should write off debt that could not be recovered. In April the council passed a resolution that identified areas that should benefit from this. Ebony Park was one of such areas, Ndlovu said.
Sonqishe and her team hit the ground running as residents approached them to have their problems resolved. Monica Mthiyane, 74, said after a trip to Thuso House, she had made arrangements to pay off her R1 945 water bill at R100 a month.
“Today, they told me to come back later to register for ESP. I’m happy about that. The City is helping us,” said Mthiyane.
Michael Phalatse, 27, was there to query his 61-year-old mother Maria’s R56 559 water bill.
“Mama is sickly, that’s why she couldn’t come. But she’s worried about this bill. There are six people living in the house and I don’t understand how our bill can be so high. She has been paying R400 every month.”
He said he had been given a list of documents to bring along for his mother to be registered for the ESP. Sandile Mgibi, 27, was at there to query a R92 459 water bill on behalf of his 65-year-old mother Sibongile, who was still recovering from injuries sustained in an accident.
“There are only three of us in the house – my mother and my twin brother. There’s no way we could run such a bill. Hopefully, they will be able to help me today,” said Sandile.
Joshua Radebe, 55, was all smiles after he was told his R7 000 bill would be written off. All he needed to do, he said, was to return to the centre to re-register for the ESP.